Garden Smackdown™ by Andrew Keys

January’s over, but the dust is still settling on 2012. Lots of new plants are braving their first winter outdoors here, and I’m getting ready to do a string of six speaking gigs in five weeks in support of my 2012 book. It’s around this time I start dreaming of new plants and post some [...]

Update: Congrats to commenter Lizzie, who won a copy of Margaret’s book! Thanks to everyone who entered! Margaret Roach and I first bonded over a mutual love of a wild plant obscure in cultivation: Aralia spinosa, the devil’s walking stick, a plant close to my own heart because of its early presence in the story [...]

This long, pinnable strip of pictures is either a sign of the apocalypse, or that my publisher, Timber Press, is doing a contest on Pinterest this week wherein you’ll have yet another chance to win my book. Yes, that’s right–I’m starting to think we should just call it Why Buy This When You Can Win [...]

By random drawing, the winner of the Gardening Rocks 2012 Advent book giveaway is Susan, the very last commenter in the contest! Big congrats to Susan, HUGE thanks to everyone who commented, and if you didn’t win, never fear: my publisher, Timber Press, is organizing a bigger and better giveaway for January as we speak. [...]

We started this advent with Amanda Palmer, and what better year to end it with Amanda Palmer? In my mind, 2012 will stand out as a roaring rollercoaster of a year. There were highs, and there were lows, but no matter how you slice it, 2012 was a year we’ll remember. Disclosure: my birthday is [...]

A pretty song with an even prettier video from M. Ward. It sounds as simplistically magical as a childhood Christmas Eve, when the air was ripe with possibility and anticipation, and even adventure. I hope yours this year is as magical. Get your free/legal download of “The First Time I Ran Away” here. I wrote [...]

Another song from the always great Nacional Records Sampler, something I look forward to every year. You can download it here, or get the whole sampler here. I wrote a book for gardeners who rock. The Garden Rocks 2012 Advent is dedicated to you. Leave a comment below now through Christmas for a chance to [...]

It’s Saturday. Wake up! We’ve got things to do. Hopefully your Christmas shopping is done, but if not, this song’s for you. Get “Headache” by METZ here. I wrote a book for gardeners who rock. The Garden Rocks 2012 Advent is dedicated to you. Leave a comment below now through Christmas for a chance to [...]